2 ssd in raid 0 + 2 hdd in raid 0

[stephanisk]

Hello,


I have a question, is it possible to put 2 ssd in raid 0 (ocz vertex 3 120 Gb) and 2 hdd in another raid 0 ( seagate barracuda 7200,14 2 Tb)

om gigabyte z68 ud7 motherboard

Will trim still work? to whitch controller i assign them and how do i put this up?

Will this have any negative effect on my ssd performance?

Thanks for any advice

 

[mjmacka]

Just so we are clear, you should use the same make/model drives in a raid configuration.

For the two SSD's, you can add a second OCZ Vertex 3. This will effectively double your drive space but double your chance of failure. For performance, I don't think there is much to be gained from a second SSD. This article discussed testing and real world performance. The final thoughts are not much gained: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-raid-benchmark,3485-13.html

As for the Seagate Barracuda, you will see a significant speed boost from a second drive in a striped array.

I couldn't find a good step-by-step for setting up raid but on motherboards like this you boot into the onboard raid controller, create a raid array with the two corresponding disks then install the OS on the proper disk.

Just as a note, if you want a single volume larger than 2 TB, follow these steps: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2581408

 

[Robert Ostrowski]

id wonder if that was too much for a single on board raid controller to push

 

[Dereck47]

id wonder if that was too much for a single on board raid controller to push

No, it's not too much. Your motherboard can handle it.

Connect your SSDs to the Intel 6Gb/s ports (SATA3_0 & SATA3_1), and connect your HDDs to the Intel 3Gb/s ports (SATA2_2 & SATA2_3).

 

[stephanisk]

Are you really sure that 2 ssd in raid 0 will not outperform a single drive?

If there is nothing to be gained, would it be possible to use my second vertex 3 to be used as ISRT on a raid 0 of my hdd? I hope you understand what i mean (to make it a cache drive for the raid 0 config) Would that boost performance again.

This is for a special build that is cooled by a tec chiller that effectively gets me to subzero temps in idle or minor load. My goal is to have everything work as fast as possible, meaning oc d cpu, graphic cards and ram, but i have so far very little experience with raid configs and hence my questions. want to see my build check: http://forum.highflow.nl/f34/subzero-cube-14321/ . it is in dutch but pictures on the last page say enough

@ dereck: Thx for the port config. Will the 3Gb sata 2 ports not limit the hdd? i thought i read somewhere that current sata 3 hdd are not able to use the complete bandwith of sata 2 but i wonder if in raid they do?

 

[Dereck47]

Are you really sure that 2 ssd in raid 0 will not outperform a single drive?

You will only get improvement in your benchmark results, not real-world performance.
Read this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-raid-benchmark,3485.html

@ dereck: Thx for the port config. Will the 3Gb sata 2 ports not limit the hdd? i thought i read somewhere that current sata 3 hdd are not able to use the complete bandwith of sata 2 but i wonder if in raid they do?

No HDD can spin fast enough to achieve SATA 3 (6Gb/s) speeds.
So if you have 2 SATA 6Gb/s HDDs and you put them in RAID-0, you will get the same Read/Write performance if you connect them to 3Gb/s ports or 6Gb/s ports.

 

[stephanisk]

No HDD can spin fast enough to achieve SATA 3 (6Gb/s) speeds.
So if you have 2 SATA 6Gb/s HDDs and you put them in RAID-0, you will get the same Read/Write performance if you connect them to 3Gb/s ports or 6Gb/s ports.

Would you opt to put one ssd than as caching drive for the raid 0 hdds or is that not possible in combination with a raid?

 

[popatim]

Thats exactly what I would do. One ssd as the boot drive, the other caching the raid0 array of hdd's.

 

[Dereck47]

You'll have to look at the instructions of your caching software and see if that's possible. Even if it is possible, you won't be able to use the whole drive, only up to 64GB.

If you haven't bought your SSDs yet then just buy 1 large drive; if you've already bought 2 SSDs then put them in RAID-0.

 

[stephanisk]

i already buyed them, so again off to a raid 0 of those, i will find a smaller ssd than to cache the raid 0 hdds.

So that is the best solution to have the fastest system?

 

[popatim]

64GB is intels SSD caching limitation. What software will you be using to cache with or will that be integrated witht he raid controller? (yes many raid controllers support ssd caching natively)